There are a number of means presently used to cover a child on a sleeping surface such as standard blankets and sleep sacks which can be opened on one side to allow easy access to place a child in the sleep sack and cover at least the legs and lower abdomen of the child.
While sleep sacks keep a child warm by preventing a child's covers from being kicked off they do not prevent a child assuming a prone position which can cause potential suffocation or increase the likelihood of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). To address this problem sleep bands can be secured to a sleeping surface and around a child and retain it in a preferred sleeping position. Such a sleep band is disclosed in Patent No. WO9317606.
A disadvantage with such sleep bands is that the child is uncovered if not combined with some form of cover (such as a blanket) which can result in the child waking up during normal sleep time.
Pat. Nos. US20040019970 and US20030154549 describe a sleep system for a child utilizing a combined safety sheet and blanket fixed to a fitted base sheet. A disadvantage with such a system is its lack of flexibility in situations where a child must be secured in a preferred sleeping position but without the need for a top blanket or where an older child requires a top blanket but does not need to be secured.
It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.